There is a way to address the vile indignities heaped on homeless people

There is a way to address the vile indignities heaped on homeless people
Shaista Aziz: Vulnerable people are being attacked, spat on and abused. Rough Sleeper Protection Orders could be an answer

In Britain today, homelessness is effectively a criminal offence. A Guardian investigation shows at least 60 councils (up from 54 last year) have obtained the power to use public spaces protection orders (PSPOs). These orders criminalise people who put up tents, seek charity or engage in other behaviour associated with rough sleeping. They also give the council the power to hand out £100 fines to rough sleepers, which, if left unpaid, can result in conviction and a £1,000 fine.

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More than 320,000 people are homeless in Britain today. Rough sleeping is up by 169% since the Tories took power. At least 597 people died on our streets in 2017.

Homelessness in all its forms is a choice being made every day by those in power. It’s the choice made in every cut to welfare benefits for the most vulnerable, and every cut to mental health and addiction services. It stems from every choice to let buildings stand empty, accruing capital for a few, while human beings sit shivering outside.

The statistics, damning as they are, do not tell the full human story behind this emergency.

As a Labour councillor in Oxford and co-founder of the Labour Homelessness Campaign, along with the volunteers in our network, I spend a lot of time listening to people experiencing the realties of rough sleeping, and specifically women experiencing this reality.

Our network of volunteers in cities across the country do the same day in, day out – volunteering with incredible grassroots organisations working with homeless people. We’ve met many people who have been treated like criminals simply for having nothing.

As more councils consult on the PSPOs, with the intention of gaining the power to criminalise behaviour that is not normally criminal, many on the streets believe these powers penalise them further for being homeless. A few days ago I met a woman who told me she had been homeless for 30 years. She described how she had been evicted from a cemetery where she was sleeping. She also described how in the past year she has repeatedly been urinated on while sleeping, and been a victim of violence and theft.

I’ve heard from rough sleepers about how people have donated food to them that they later found was laced with laxatives. The men who donated the food came back later to laugh at and mock their victims.

In Durham town centre last month, a young man sleeping rough told me he dreaded being out on the streets on Friday night the most, because, in his own words: “This is when people use the excuse of being drunk to humiliate me. I make myself as small as possible and zip myself up in my sleeping bag and try and become invisible. It’s intimidating to be this vulnerable all the time.”

Research from Crisis reveals people sleeping on the street are almost 17 times more likely to have been victims of violence, and 15 times more likely to have suffered verbal abuse in the past year, compared with the general public. This includes being hit or kicked, or urinated on. The research shows more than one in 20 homeless people had been the victim of a sexual assault in the previous 12 months. Another study by Crisis shows 73% of rough sleepers experienced some kind of criminalisation in the past year.

People experiencing homelessness can be intensely vulnerable. Too often these measures trap people in a cycle, faced with fines they cannot pay and with a growing mistrust of those official council services they should be turning to for help.

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It’s why in Oxford a group of residents, students, housing rights specialists, activists and those who work with homeless people are calling for the implementation of a rough sleeper protection order (RSPO). The RSPO, were it to come into force, would explicitly prohibit behaving aggressively towards people who are sleeping rough sleeping – with specific reference to spitting and urinating on them and their dogs. It would condemn mocking, filming or photographing people experiencing rough sleeping without their consent, or moving their belongings. It would also prevent the eviction of people who have sought refuge, safety and shelter in cemeteries and other public spaces, and stop the making of decisions that affect the lives of people who are sleeping rough without first consulting them.

It’s time to repeal the Vagrancy Act, and for councils and police forces to cease using any measures that ban begging and rough sleeping, or have an adverse impact on homeless people. Homelessness is effectively a criminal offence. We’re demanding a different approach.

• Shaista Aziz is a journalist and Labour councillor in Oxford